


You Could Be (my last chance)

by AU_Ruler



Series: Femslash February [16]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Angst, Developing Relationship, F/F, Femslash February 2021, Fluff, Kinda, Violence against Children, duno implied, implied past paperinik, it's me there's gonna be fluff, magica backstory, manipulative magica de spell, penumbra backstory, possibly but also lowkey, post S02E moonvasion, title subject to change depending on how this story goes, worldbuilding? me? somehow more likely than you'd think
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:15:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29720556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AU_Ruler/pseuds/AU_Ruler
Summary: Penumbra, remembering Selene's magic when it came to the moon, goes out in search of someone who could help her get back to the moon. She runs into Magica, an incredible sorceress who claims to be able to return her to her planet. The only obstacle is that Magica’s lost her magic.
Relationships: Della Duck & Penumbra (Disney: DuckTales), Della Duck/Selene (background), Donald Duck & Penumbra (Disney: DuckTales), Magica de Spell/Penumbra
Series: Femslash February [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1243562
Kudos: 5





	You Could Be (my last chance)

‘ _ Hey! Selene here, goddess of the moon, probably heard of me. _ ’

The thing was, Penumbra hadn’t. She’d never heard of this so-called goddess of their planet. None of the stories her parents told her as she grew contained this figure. No lullabies held mention of her. As far as she knew, this earther was lying. But then-

‘ _ Bad news: your ship is stuck orbiting the earth. But good news! Congratulations, you’re the earth’s newest moon. _ ’

She had power.  _ Real  _ power. The kind Lunaris had seemed to want. And she punished him with it, leaving him rotating around the earth. Penumbra had even checked a week later when Della had gifted her the telescope. He was truly stuck up there.

Later that day she’d brought it up to Della.

“Yeah, she’s pretty cool,” Della said in a satisfied way Penumbra didn’t understand nor care to understand. Not right now, she was more occupied with the realization this goddess was a very real being. With very real power.

“I was not aware we had a goddess,” Penumbra said, eyes lowered as her brain worked to include that information into her knowledge about her planet.

“Oh, yeah!” Della said. “There are goddesses for lots of things! The moon, marriage, love, knowledge.”

Penumbra's brain stuttered and restarted as Della listed off things. “The earth has that many goddesses?”

“And more!” Della said. “I've only met a few, but Selene sa-”

“How do these goddesses acquire these powers?” Penumbra cut her off. As her brain restarted it began to turn with something else.

Della shrugged. “They're born with them.”

“Can…  _ others _ have these powers?” Penumbra asked. There was a start of a plan in her mind. Something that would allow her to actually get off this strange rock and let her return to her own planet.

“Sure,” Della shrugged a shoulder. “I've seen a few people with magic. Though they're not always the  _ best  _ people. Like Magica De Spell. Once she-”

Penumbra tuned her out. Mind stuck and swirling on that name.  _ Magica De Spell _ . She could get that earther to help her. All she had to do was find her. That couldn't be too hard, how big could the earth be?

Even if she couldn't find her- which she  _ doubted _ , she was a great warrior- her…  _ friend _ could likely help. “Thank you, Della. That's all I need today.”

“Alright. Just let me know if ya need anything else, roomie!” Della said happily, waving as Penumbra stood and walked out.

Magica De Spell. It would be better to go to this earther than Selene. What happened to Lunaris still played in her mind. If she misstepped with the goddess- She couldn't let the same thing happen to her. There were still people left behind on her planet that needed defending. There had to be.

Penumbra  _ had _ to get back. The moon was the only place she'd ever known. The only home she'd ever truly had. Where her parents would hum lullabies and whisper quiet bedtime tales of the mighty moonlanders before her who would return to help others in their greatest time of need.

Except that time was now for her. And no one came to rescue her from this other planet. It was lush and green. Pretty and… social. The others fell for its colours immediately. But she couldn't. The air here felt different. Clouded and strange, weighing down each step like someone had locked weights to her ankles. 

She  _ needed _ to get off this planet and back on her own. And to do that, she needed to find this Magica.

As far as she knew no one on her planet had magic. There were stories of a group who had power like what Selene had shown. Warriors called the Spectral Host that walked the dustscape, defending the city from hostile creatures with their powers. Never being seen or heard. Their skin the rocks, their footsteps the wind. They knew the tunnels like instinct. Maybe on this planet they'd be called ‘magic’ or ‘goddess’.

When she was young, she'd tried to find them once. Tried to join them. But she'd never been able to. As she grew older she learned they'd never existed. Now with the knowledge of Selene, she's not so sure anymore.

This time her search wouldn't be fruitless. She'd find the magic earther. Somehow, somewhere. Hopefully Magica wasn't a common name for them.

It took days. But Penumbra had always been incredibly stubborn. It was one of the reasons she'd gotten as far as she did as a warrior. The other reason being she was the only one who ever took it so seriously. All the other warriors were always more… lighthearted. Like they believed no wars and a secret city could keep their people fully safe from harm. But that was the reason she had to get back. If anyone was left behind, they'd be physically defenseless. And she couldn't have that. Not when it was her  _ job _ to make sure they weren't.

Mud clung to her feet. Squishing uncomfortably between her toes. Earlier she'd been wearing shoes, but the mud had sucked them in and forced her to remove them to continue. An act she did with grumbling and a few obscenities, but no one was there to witness it so she allowed a little vocal weakness. This wasn't something she'd had to deal with back on her own planet. The moon was dry outside some frozen lakes under the surface. Annoyedly she shook a glob off her foot. Her next step immediately reapplied the earthen gloop to her arch and she bit back another loud grumble. Hopefully this magical’s place was close.

Somewhere in what Penumbra’d call the  _ heart _ of the swamp was a hut. The hut was carved out of a tree in the shape of a laughing duck. It was impressive and seemed a bit much. Were all witch’s huts like this? Penumbra didn’t know and was only half sure she even wanted to. Suspicion clung to her nerves. But she pushed at it, gently shoving it to the side- she could never remove it fully, it was  _ good _ for a warrior to be suspicious. it kept them alive. There was no choice, she had to go up and knock on the door or she’d never get home.

Her knock seemed to echo against the wood and out between every other tree in the swamp. Pinging back and forth until it wrapped back around and into the heavy door.

There was a groan before the door opened. “What  _ now _ .” A voice snapped. In the doorway the tallest female duck she's met (not that she's met  _ a lot _ ) stood a little hunched over, a hand rubbing irritatedly at her eye. She had short cropped black hair with two purple streaks that matched a clasp to a cape and bright, striking yellow eyes. They reminded her of home. A pang struck her and she pushed it down. There was no use feeling homesick. Not when she was about to be back.

“I need you to take me to the moon,” Penumbra told her.

There were a few beats of silence where the witch just blinked at her. Then she barked a loud laugh. “You need me to  _ what _ ?”

“I need you to take me to the moon,” Penumbra repeated, striving to put all the importance and seriousness she could into her words.

“You want  _ me _ to take  _ you _ to the  _ moon _ ?” the witch said incredulously, looking at her amused as if she were a child asking to be taken to

Penumbra gritted her teeth. “Yes.”

This answer just elicited further laughter. “Why would I ever do that?”

“I need to get back to my people,” Penumbra said with all the urgency- and a little of the annoyance- she felt.

“And how is that any concern of mine?” The witch asked, unconcerned. Though it didn't seem she really wanted an answer. She moved to close the door but Penumbra caught it and kept it open easily. When she did the witch eyed her more warily.

“I walked through your,” Penumbra cut off, her hand almost splintering the wood, “ _ stupid _ swamp. Now help me!”

Magica gave her a weird, calculating look. Almost similar to the one Della’s twin gave her. Except his had been the cold look of a warrior sizing her up like the old warriors had when she was a child and this one was…. different. She raised herself to her full height, back even straighter than it usually was. “Alright.” The witch eventually said. “But you need to do something for me first.”

And Penumbra tried-  _ really _ tried- to tamp down the relief welling up inside her. But after so long of being on this dreaded planet, kept from her true home, it boiled up unbidden into her throat with a choking capability. Only her own training kept it from spilling out her mouth. “Of course,” she said instead of ‘thank you’.

“Great,” Magica said, twisting her hand in a circle on her wrist. Without another word she walked back into her house. The door remained open behind her. After a moment's hesitation Penumbra entered.

“Did you grow up in a barn?” Magica asked, a bare snap in her voice, “Close the door.”

Penumbra paused hard before she turned and did as commanded.

The tall duck puttered around a stove for a moment, instruments clinking. “I hope you like tea,” she said with a tone that told Penumbra she didn't really care. And when, after another few minutes, she set a teacup in front of her it wasn’t a suggestion. Magica sat down across from her with her own cup. Penumbra glared at it, not sure whether to drink or not.

“Go ahead, it's not poisoned,” Magica said. She blew on her own cup once, enough to get the steam to move but not to dispel it, and took a sip.

Well, she was about to trust her life with the witch. With only a bit more hesitation, Penumbra mimicked her. The liquid burned immediately. Painfully hot on her tongue and chasing down her throat. She barely held down a grimace. Across from her the witch watched with a smile she didn't bother to contain.

“I like my tea quite hot,” Magica said with a pointed sip.

“What do I need to do?” Penumbra asked.

“It's best when it's not cold,” Magica said. Her fingers tapped against her own cup. Penumbra kept herself from grinding her teeth. Usually she was okay with following authority. She was a  _ soldier _ . It's what she did. Of course after everything that happened she'd no longer let herself follow  _ anybody _ blindly, years of training were hard to buck and she still had that knee-jerk instinct to follow anyone who sounded authoritative enough. And this was the first duck she'd encountered who did immediately. But right now she  _ needed _ this specific information. Because she  _ needed _ to get back to the moon.

Impatience crawled up her throat. She blew on the tea and took another sip to burn it back.

“I need you to get me my amulet back,” Magica said once Penumbra had drank half her cup and her own was fully gone. A rush of  _ finally _ went through Penumbra, but she kept it off her face and away from her body language. Let it rest in her brain and veins instead. “It’s been stolen from me and without it, you’re not going anywhere you can’t walk to.”

Penumbra frowned at her. “But aren’t you a magical?”

“Of course I am,” Magica scoffed. “I’m the most powerful sorceress in the world.”

“Then… why do you need an amulet?” Penumbra asked. “I was told you’d have enough power to get me to moon.”

“I do,” Magica said. “I just need my amulet first.”

“Do magicals get their powers from objects?” Penumbra asked.

“Of course not,” Magica waved her hand. “It’s engrained in us. A part of our dna or our blood, whichever you would.”

“But if it’s in your blood like you say it is,” Penumbra narrowed her eyes at the duck. “then why would you need this amulet? Wouldn’t it be enough to just use your blood to get me back to my planet? Or is this a trick?” She stood up from the table suddenly. “You won’t- You  _ can’t _ get me back because your power is a lie.”

“It’s not,” Magica snapped loudly. Penumbra flinched back slightly in surprise. Shame flooded her briefly at her own short display of fear. If Magica noticed, she didn't show it. Instead she simply took a deep breath. “The amulet strengthens my power. With it back I'll be at my full power but sadly without it, I am… currently  _ powerless _ .” She said the words like they physically hurt. While Penumbra didn't really understand, she supposed it made sense. If the powers were something she'd always had, being without them was probably rather painful.

“At the moment I can only do parlor tricks,” Magica said with disgust. Then she waved a hand. From her sleeve she pulled a strand of colourful clothes tied together. Once the strand was completely free from her sleeve, pooled on the ground, she sighed. It was something deep and melancholy that moved her shoulders. For a second, Penumbra felt like she was seeing herself the first night here, standing atop the roof of Della’s dad’s mansion and staring at the bright moon, so far away.

“I'll get it back.” Penumbra still felt far away. Detached, looking at the stars from a new perspective. Just close enough to her sky to be familiar but different enough to feel fundamentally wrong. She took a breath. Magica was still sitting at the table in front of her. “I'll help you.”

Magica smiled. It didn't seem particularly kind. (But it wasn't malicious either.) “Good.”

Penumbra nodded and sat back down.

“So,” Magica took a breath. A cracking sound came from her neck as she rolled her head to the side and back. “I need to know if you’re willing to fight a child.”

Penumbra blinked and raised an eyebrow. Really, Penumbra had no problem with that. It was a good way to train them. And from what she'd seen from the mini Dellas, the children of earth could mostly handle it. That didn't mean it wasn't an odd question. “Would it be necessary in getting back to my planet?”

“Oh, very,” Magica said.

“Then yes,” Penumbra answered.

“Good,” Magica seemed to purr, bringing her chin to rest on steepled hands. “You're going to have to fight the child who stole my amulet from me.”


End file.
